Performance Tech Motorsports qualified fourth Friday for the 63rd Annual Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Fueled by Fresh from Florida, the once-around-the-clock endurance classic March 21 at Sebring International Raceway.
Driver Conor Daly was .49 of second behind Prototype Challenge pole winner Martin Plowman of BAR1 Motorsports on the 17-turn, 3.74-mile circuit. Daly has not spent time in a PC car since the inaugural race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship, the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January 2014. His last race at Sebring International Raceway was in 2010 while competing in Star Mazda.
Daly, from Noblesville, Indiana, will race to continue a family legacy. His father, Derek Daly, earned overall victory at the Twelve Hours of Sebring in 1990 and 1991 with Nissan Performance Technology Inc.
“You can tell how competitive this class is,” Daly said. “It’s certainly close. We’re about four-tenths from pole, and we’re fourth. It’s good to be close; we just missed it by a bit. The brake-bias adjuster wasn’t working, and I was getting some rear lockup as soon as I started to push harder, so that was a shame. But I know we’ll sort it out. It was just nice to see where we stacked up. Now we just focus on the race.”
Team Principal Brent O’Neill gained more confidence in the No. 38 PC after watching Daly’s performance. His team finished third at Sebring in 2013 in the final season of the American Le Mans Series.
“I think we’ve got a good car; we’ve got good pace,” O’Neill said. “All the guys have really done a good job. Conor really helped us a lot with setup the last couple of days and getting some things sorted with the car.
“He’s done a great job qualifying. He doesn’t have a lot of time in these cars, so I think he did a stellar job for us. It’s a 12-hour race, so we’ll get after it tomorrow.”
The race starts at 10:40 a.m. (ET) Saturday, with the race broadcast starting at 10:30 a.m. (ET) on FOX Sports 1. Live coverage will continue from 12:30-7 p.m. on FOX Sports 2, from 7-10 p.m. on IMSA.com and will conclude from 10-11 p.m. on FOX Sports 2. Live timing will be available at scoring.imsa.com.
Keep up with Performance Tech Motorsports by following the team on Facebook and Twitter at @Perf_Tech. For more information on the team, visit performancetechmotorsports.com.
About Me: Adam has been a race fan since the first time he went through the tunnel under the Daytona International Speedway almost 30 years ago. He has had the privilege of travelling to races all across the state of Florida (as well as one race in Ohio), watching nearly everything with a motor compete for fame and glory, as well as participating in various racing schools to get the feel of what racecar drivers go through every week. Adam has spent the last three years covering motorsports for Examiner.com., where he had the opportunity to see the racing world from behind the scenes as well as the grandstands. He invites everyone to follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus, and looks forward to sharing his enthusiasm for all things racing with the readers of SpeedwayDigest.com.Be sure to tune in for his weekly sports talk program, Thursday Night Thunder, where he discusses the latest in motorsports news with drivers, crew members, and fans. The show takes place every Thursday at 8:00 pm EST on the Speedway Digest Radio Network.
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